COVID-19: Sanwo-Olu Speaks On Speculation Of PPEs Shortage In Lagos

Governor of Lagos state, Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Sunday lent credence to the  “rumour” that the state was facing dearth of personal protective equipment (PPEs) for health workers

Sanwo-Olu who spoke  at a press briefing on the effects of shortage of medical supplies needed to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, said there was nothing untrue about rumour on inadequacy of PPEs

He said PPEs are medical consumables and are important for health workers handling COVID-19 patients, noting that no matter the amount that was bought as long as they were being used then the issue of shortage could not be wished away.

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He added that the shortage of the PPEs was a direct effect of the surge in number of people who had tested positive for the infection. .

Lagos currently has 791 active COVID-19 cases.

“Shortage is not a rumour. If there are no PPEs, there are no PPEs, and the truth about the matter is these are consumables. Even if you buy 10,000, as long as people are using them, as long as people are testing positive, and you’re having a lot more medical personnel on the line, you’ll run short of it,” he said.

He said the issue should not be about exhaustion or shortage of PPEs but how swift can new ones be delivered, adding the consumables were not medical equipment that could be used repeatedly.

He said “But the question now is how quickly do you ensure that you re-order? These are consumables; it’s like you’re using your masks. They’re one-off use; they’re not for repeated use. So, we’ll continue to buy

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“The thing you need to help us with is to tell a few of our suppliers that this is not the time to profit unnecessarily. These are things that when we started, we bought at N3,000, N4,000, now it’s N15,000, N20,000. People are unduly just taking advantage of it and even when you tell them to go and bring, it’s all stories again.

Sanwo-Olu added that due to the price gouging  and inflated prices of the equipment by suppliers, they the state was looking at internal solutions, which included approaching local tailoring for solutions.

“So, one of the things we’re looking at is we’re looking inward now to see if we can develop capacity internally and see if our local tailoring companies can be ingenious enough to also solve it and the conversation is going very well, if I dare say.”

He implored residents of the state to empathize with COVID-19 patients and to desist from actions that constituted stigmatisation of the victim when they recovered and wanted to return to their communities from the isolation centres.